Top Hizb-Ul commander from J&Okay held in Bengaluru

Express News Service

BENGALURU: A high militant commander of the banned terrorist organisation – Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) – Tariq alias Talib Hussain Gujjar was held final week within the City by the Jammu & Kashmir (J&Okay) police with logistic help of Bengaluru metropolis police. According to sources, Tariq alias Talib Hussain a resident of Nagaseni Tehsil, Kishtwar district has been reportedly recognized by the investigating officer as a ‘Hizbul-A’ class terrorist. He was arrested by the J&Okay police from Kishtwar on June 5.

Talib had fled J&Okay and brought refuge in Bengaluru City a few years in the past. He was residing within the premises of a mosque in Okalipuram in Srirampura in Bengaluru North from the place he was “picked up for questioning by the J&K police last week,” stated sources. Talib was working for a courier firm as a cargo loader and had maintained a low profile within the City. “Talib had left behind his first wife in J&K and had married another Kashmiri girl with who he was living in Bengaluru. After he was detained she also left for her home town on her own,” added the sources.

There are not any particulars of when Talib got here to Bengaluru. “No one, including his neighbours knew about his militant background,” added sources. “J&K police had approached the city police for locating a terror suspect named Tariq. He was located and detained for questioning,” they added. “Tariq was later identified as Talib Hussain – a ‘Hizbul-A’ category terrorist – after the J&K police searched his premises in Kishtwar, following which, he was arrested there,” stated sources.

‘Karnataka has begun probe’

The police are actually investigating his actions and can query his associates in Bengaluru. Talib had joined HM in 2016 and was at one level, stated to be one of many closest associates of the oldest surviving terrorists in J&Okay Jehangir Saroori aka Mohammad Amin Bhat, who carries an award of Rs 50 lakh on his head. HM is among the largest cadre-based terrorist organisations in J&Okay, which pulls cadres from indigenous and overseas sources and is supported by Pakistan’s exterior intelligence company the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Meanwhile, in Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday confirmed Talib’s ‘arrest’ from town and stated that the state will present all help required by J&Okay police. “In the past too, such arrests had taken place in Sirsi and Bhatkal. The Jammu and Kashmir police have taken this very seriously,” the CM had added. Home Minister Araga Jnanendra stated that the state police has begun a probe following Talib’s ‘arrest.’